BOX SCORE

TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Evansville outscored Toledo by 11 points in the second half and held the Rockets without a basket for the final four minutes of the contest, but could not overcome a 21-point halftime deficit in a 60-50 loss Thursday night in the inaugural Toledo Invite at Savage Arena in Toledo, Ohio.
 
Senior Samatha Heck led Evansville (2-8) with 16 points and sophomore Mallory Ladd recorded a double-double in her debut for the Purple Ace by scoring 11 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.  Ladd also added a team-high three assists and three steals.
 
Toledo (9-1) opened the game by scoring the first nine points and opened up a quick 13-2 lead at the first media timeout.  Yolanda Richardson hit her first three shots to contribute six points during the early run, while Inma Zanoguera added four.
 
The Rockets continued to pull away in the opening stanza and pushed their advantage to 29-9 on a pair of free throws by Naama Shafir with 7:11 remaining. 
 
Toledo led 37-16 at the break, as the Rockets held the Aces to just a 17.4 percent shooting percentage (4-for-23) and four UT players notched at least six points in the first half.  Redshirt sophomore Khristian Hart led UE with seven first-half points and finished the evening with nine.
 
The Aces slowly began to climb back into the contest, as Heck provided Evansville with nine of its first 10 points in the second half and forced Toledo to take a timeout by knocking down a three-pointer with 6:29 remaining to the Rockets’ lead to 54-36.
 
Shafir connected on a pair of free throws to extend UT’s advantage back to 20 points at 60-40 with 4:15 to play, but the Evansville defense would not surrender a point the rest of the way.
 
The Aces used full-court defense and Toledo turnovers to end the game on a 10-0 run and pull within 10 points, but it was not enough as the Rockets held on for the 60-50 victory.
 
Shafir led the way for UT, notching a double-double by scoring 12 points and dishing out 10 assists.  Zanoguera also finished in double figures with 12 points and three other Toledo players tallied at least eight points.
 
Evansville made 14 of its 50 field goal attempts for a 28.0 percent shooting percentage and shot 35.3 percent from beyond the arc, burying six of its 17 attempts.  Toledo finished the night with a 33.8 percent shooting clip (22-for-65) and shot 31.6 percent (6-for-19) from long distance.
 
The Rockets narrowly outrebounded the Aces, 42-40, but turned 18 UE turnovers into 13 points and outscored UE in the paint, 24-14.
 
Evansville will conclude the Toledo Invite and its non-conference slate tomorrow against Hampton at 3:30 p.m. CST.  The Lady Pirates fell to Prairie View A&M in the opening contest of the two-day event.